Claire stood frozen at the threshold of the garden, her eyes wide, her breath caught in her throat. The golden light split across the sky like a divine scar, and from its center… he stepped through.
Danny.
He looked older. Worn. Eyes darker than she remembered. His jaw clenched tightly, as if still at war with something invisible. His coat—torn, dusted with ash—fluttered in the unnatural wind that followed him.
Their eyes met.
And for a heartbeat, nothing else existed.
"Danny?" she whispered, her voice barely more than breath.
He didn't answer. Not yet.
He simply looked past her—toward the crib.
Claire's chest ached. Every part of her wanted to run to him, to collapse into his arms, to believe the nightmare had finally ended.
But something was wrong.
Something in his silence.
In the way his shadow didn't quite match the light.
She felt it deep in her bones—this man was Danny, yes… but not the same one who left.
He had crossed something no soul should touch.
And something… had followed him back.
Behind him, the golden rift in the sky pulsed like a bleeding wound in the fabric of reality.
And from that wound, whispers leaked out—like smoke curling under a locked door, promising nothing but ruin.
The wind that blew through the world now tasted wrong.
Sweet… but rotten underneath.
Like something had died and didn't know it yet.
And Danny…Danny wore it like a second skin.
Finally, he spoke.
His voice was low. Rough. And filled with something ancient.
"I came back… but I didn't come back alone."
From the rift behind him, a second figure stepped forward—face hidden, body shifting like shadow and flame.
The child in the crib sat up. Smiling.
Claire screamed.
The sky closed.
But the door was already open.
🎬 [End of Chapter 30 – What Has Returned Cannot Be Unmade]